Pocahontas; A Proclamation: With Plates.[New Haven: James Clyme, 1820]. First edition. 8vo. 16 pp. Illustrated with two plates. Three-quarter 19th century burgundy morocco over marbled paper-covered boards, stamped in gilt, light rubbing along extremities; small abrasion at bottom of front board joint; remnants of removed book-plate on front paste-down; circular abrasion on title-page, remnants of old ink notation at bottom of same; faint circular ink stamp on verso of title-page; foxing to title-page, text, and plates. Sabin 63502; Shaw & Shoemaker 1590

Rare satirical pamphlet on American slavery, attributed to New England antislavery writer, William Hillhouse. Published during the height of the Missouri crisis, Hillhouse's pamphlet is believed to be the first instance of the use of Pocahontas in the sectional conflict between the North and South over the continuance and spread of slavery. Here, "Pocahontas addresses the non-slave holding states, proclaiming that 'the welfare and happiness of the body politic, depends on the subordination of the inferior members to the head' and initiating 'a crusade for unlimited slavery.' Tilton 1994 says that Hillhouse used 'Pocahontas' because 'she was the the literal and/or figurative progenitrix of the Virginia gentry,' and he was able 'to express the foolishness of having a mixed-blood aristocracy in a society where racial separation is mandatory,' thus questioning 'the essential distinctions upon which the southern planter ideology was based.'" (The Pocahontas Archive, Lehigh University)

RARE. According to RBH, this is the first copy to come to auction since 2003.